Ramadan Worship Is Increasingly Calm, The Government Prepares Rp104 Trillion For Food Security

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto emphasized that the government had prepared a budget of IDR 104.2 trillion for food security in the 2023 period. This was conveyed by Airlangga during a press conference after the inflation control meeting ahead of Ramadan with the relevant ministries/agencies.

"From the food security budget, it was conveyed by the Minister of Finance that around Rp. 104.2 trillion was distributed to a number of ministries/agencies (K/L) and outside the K/L," he said in Jakarta on Monday, February 20.

Airlangga explained that the budget will later be optimized for various important programs, such as cheap market activities, cooperation between regions, transportation costs subsidies, chili planting movements, business model replication, and economic digitization.

"The central and regional governments will encourage synergies so that inflation can also achieve the 2023 target and support recovery and maintain the national economy," he said.

On this occasion, Airlangga also said that the realization of inflation in 2022 was 5.51 percent lower than the government's forcing of 6.5 percent after the fuel price adjustment in September.

"The government will strengthen food security by accelerating the implementation of food barns, expanding cooperation with regions, ensuring food availability to maintain inflation, and strengthening communication with the community," he stressed.

VOI noted that the government targets inflation to return to a normal level of 3 percent plus minus 1 percent in the second semester of 2023. Meanwhile, inflation is currently perched at 5.28 percent as of last January.